more changes....

Well, it has been a while but we've been quite busy since I've last posted. We have celebrated a number of family birthdays, I went away on an awesome staff retreat, we celebrated Harvest Fest (our church's Halloween alternative) and Ronel's birthday, celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and then last week
FOUND OUT THAT WE'RE EXPECTING!!

Yes, you read that right! I'm pregnant! I'm 5 weeks and 3 days pregnant and should be welcoming our new addition in early August!

  So far everything is going good and we meet with our midwife on Tuesday. We are both so EXCITED and Ronel couldn't wipe the smile off his face ALL DAY! 
It has been a lot of fun sharing our news with all of our family & friends.
I am so excited to have my first ultrasound and be able to see and hear our precious bundle! (don't have a date for the ultrasound - just super excited about it!)
(and I know that I still owe you guys photos!)

last 5 months in photos!

I'm trying to get caught up on posting photos of our latest adventures.... I'm just a couple months behind!!


I don't want to do it all in one post as that would be a very long and photo heavy post so starting Monday, there will be new posts daily with photos of our adventures since May.

I hope you will enjoy them!

new journeys.....

Ronel has now been in daytime English classes for 3 days and he seems to be enjoying it. We were unable to register him for the school location closest to us as their day classes were full. We signed up Ronel for night classes but after we got home, we didn't feel good about it as it was 4 nights a week and we'd have only had 30 mins together between me getting off work & Ronel going to school. I called Monday to cancel him for the night classes and to find out if there were spaces in another school not that far away. There was and Ronel started Tuesday morning. Because of the hours, he has to bus to and from school and he did very well navigating the bus system -- in the afternoon, he has to take the skytrain and 2 buses! I was definitely more nervous about it than he was!

This new English class is quite different than his old one and there are only 4 students which is nice as they will get lots of individual attention from the teacher. The students are all from varied backgrounds which doesn't allow for speaking in their native tongue (which was a huge pet peeve for Ronel at his last English class - most were Spanish speaking and would speak Spanish with each other on the break as well as during class time)
So for like 5 + hours Ronel is only speaking English, which is helping with his confidence level.

Life with both of us out of the house for a large part of the day makes our evenings seem that much crazier but it is nice for both of us to have time out of the house on our own and we also both have an hour or so alone at home which is nice to get things done on our own, and then we have our evenings together.

Enjoy your Thursday!

one year

One year ago I was in Haiti with Ronel preparing to fly home together .... It seems unreal that it was only a year ago that Ronel came to Canada. Some days it feels like forever and other days it feels like it has only been a few months!! In 2 months and 4 days we will be celebrating our FOURTH wedding anniversary. Even my mom had a hard time believing me that it has been that long already!

We had a great summer - spent lots of time with family & friends. And Ronel got to have lots of firsts..... drove a go-cart, went to Kids' Camp, went camping, got his Care Card! (this one is a BIGGIE!!), went to a Canadian emergency room (he wasn't the patient, I was), played mini-golf (and beat me!) and more that I can think of right now!

I know I promised pictures of many of these things and I have them, just haven't had the time to get them online!!! I'm hoping that once Ronel goes to English classes during the day, I'll be able to get better at keeping up with the blog when I'm on my break (since I won't feel bad about ignoring him while I'm on the computer!)

Yes, we are hoping that soon Ronel will be in full time ESL classes with ELSA.
ELSA stands for English Language Services for Adults. The ELSA program provides basic and intermediate level English training for adult newcomers to Canada.  He had his assessment test last Wednesday and they put him at a level 3 (there are levels 1-5) and then tomorrow we go to register him at the school closest to us that offers the classes when we want them and find out when he can start classes.
Ronel will be in class Mon - Fri  from 9am - 2:15pm. It will be nice for him to be out of the house each day and also learning more English. He's very good at studying on his own but the social interaction will be good for him. And because of the hours... he'll be taking the bus to and from class which will be a big step for him.


I hope you all had a great summer! and that you have a great September!

we've been busy...

it's been a while since I last posted, but we've been busy! We bought a new (to us) car at the end of May. We're now the proud owners of a 2001 Hyundai Elantra (which is a HUGE jump from the '84 Plymouth Horizon I used to own!) The next weekend, I took the car and drove to the States for our church's Ladies' Retreat. This is the first time I've driven my own vehicle and drove down 3 other ladies from my church. Since then, Ronel & I have been trying to get out and see things ever chance we get. Most Saturdays we have been going and seeing something! We've gone down to the Vancouver Aquarium, visited Stanley Park, gone to the Greater Vancouver Zoo, Iona Beach & watching the planes land out at Vancouver Airport. We have also enjoyed going to new places in the evenings and going for nice walks in the later part of the evening. We've been to Steveston and walked along the dyke, went out to White Rock Beach, walked the pier and along the beach and also went to Cresent Beach where we got to watch part of a movie(or maybe a TV show) being filmed.

I have lots of photos from these outings and will try and get them on here, but I've been trying to limit my time on the computer and there is only so much I can do on the computer each day -- especially trying to spend only an hour a day online!

Have a great day!

our trip to Vancouver Island

 Ronel and I on his very first ferry ride - Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay

 our morning at the Marina (there was a seal at the marina as well!)

Ronel's first touch of the Pacific Ocean (at Tyee Spit in Campbell River)

We had a fantastic trip to the Island! I got off work early on the Thursday, and we (Ronel, my mom & myself) headed out to Horseshoe Bay in North Vancouver to catch the ferry to Nanaimo.  We had decided to take this route as the ferry times worked better with when I could get off work and it put us a 1/2 hour closer on the other side, as well as the ferry ride itself is a 1/2 hour shorter.  Ronel was quite amazed at the size of the ferry.  We drove up the inland Island Highway and arrived at my granny's house at around 9pm. We found our rooms and then hung out in the living room for awhile with everyone before heading to bed. 

We were up bright and early the next morning (like 6am!) and I went to see if mom wanted to come for a walk with us (I knew she'd be up... she's an early bird!)  We went for a nice walk in the newer neighborhood that has been built around my granny's house in the last 4 or 5 years.  We came back, showered, ate and then headed out to show Ronel around Campbell River.  We first headed down to Coast Marina and a lady told us there was a seal in the inner part of the marina so we headed down to see it. After that, we walked around a bit and then headed out to Tyee Spit to walk down the beach. Ronel touched the Pacific Ocean for the first time and Mom showed us the sandstone that can write on dark rocks.  We then went and got lunch and after lunch we headed to Discovery Pier to get some ice cream!

 Ronel took this photo of me with both of our cones in front of the carved wooden ice cream cone at the pier.

The cones were HUGE and took us awhile to finish but was SO worth it! We walked down the pier and then came back to the parking lot and sat at a picnic table to eat our ice cream. While I was eating my cone, I noticed that the table we were at had a plaque saying that this table was a gift from my mom's high school graduating class! I thought that was neat (and she didn't even know about it so I got to tell her about it)

After our ice cream we headed back to Granny's. We went out for dinner with Granny at her favorite place -- the casino! before heading out to my sister's place. It was fun to see my oldest sister & my husband together.... we hung out for awhile enjoying my sister`s gorgeous house! and then we went out to the porch where Ronel & I spent some time trying to capture some photos of the hummingbirds enjoying the feeders my sister has on both sides of her porch.

and that was our Thursday and Friday... more to come about Saturday and Sunday!!

on our way...

We are on our way to the Island (Vancouver Island that is!) for the weekend. We're traveling with my mom (and how sweet -- it's Mother's Day weekend!) and going to visit both sides of my family. First we off to Campbell River to see my Granny (mom's mom) & that side of the family and then on Sunday we're headed to Victoria to see my Nanna (dad's mom) and that side of the family. It will be A LOT of new people for Ronel. He's only met my Granny so far of all the people we'll see this weekend! 

 okay and the cool thing... right now I'm at the ferry terminal, sitting in the car on our laptop about to board the ferry and I'm blogging... The world of mobile internet is still new to me  and I LOVE IT! I'll try to post photos this weekend if I can, but there will definitely be photos on Monday! Ronel is about to take his first ferry trip... and we're taking Coastal Renaissance, one of BC Ferries newer boats 


Have a great weekend! I'm sure we will!

home sick...

so I've been home sick since Friday.... spent most of my weekend in bed. Went to the doctor on Saturday and got some antibiotics and a throat swab. Today I got the results of that swab --- STREP THROAT!?  Saturday the doctor told me I had to stay home for a minimum of a week (I said... so a week??)

while a week at home sounds nice... on day 4 of being sick, achy, and all around miserable, the thought of 4 more days sounds painful!

Thankfully today I am starting to feel better (well, everywhere except my throat) thanks in large part I'm sure the Ensure beverages my mom brought me so that I could be getting some nutrients & protein. Liquids were all I was getting down up until today. I'm about to try and eat Ronel's delicious CSC rice, (chicken, shrimp & carrots)

I'm hoping that tomorrow is another good day and maybe I can do something around the house... play a game with Ronel, stamp, organize, something, anything!

Ronel says dinner is calling my name so I am off......

Our Easter weekend

First off, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. I'm off today for Easter Monday so our weekend is still happening!

We started off the weekend by heading downtown on Friday. Ronel's been wanting to ride the SkyTrain so we did. Our original plan was to go to Stanley Park and take a horse drawn carriage ride through the park, but Thursday night the forecast was yucky so we decided to wait for a nicer day. We drove to the Skytrain station and parked, then headed off on our adventure. It was COLD and rainy but we were determined not to let that stop us.

We took the Expo line all the way to Waterfront Station and were planning on jumping right onto the SeaBus, but because it was operating on weekend schedule (due to the holiday) we had a 25 minute wait, so we got a hot chocolate at Starbucks and headed out to Gastown to see the Steam Clock. We got there just minutes before the hour, so we decided to wait and actually see it go off. It's been many years since I have been to the clock so when Ronel asked me if it was loud, I had to tell him I didn't know but from what I could remember.... yes?! Well, we both had a good laugh when it went off because it really isn't that loud!

After we were done there, we still had some time so we strolled through some of the stores which still had TONS of Olympic stuff left, all on sale. We had never managed to find something Ronel liked (He really wanted some Olympic souvenir) Well, we found way more keychains, clothes & various other items than I'd ever seen this side of the river, so we picked up a nice keychain for Ronel and then headed back to the SeaBus. As we were nearing the SeaBus terminal, we saw the SeaBus head out...we missed the SeaBus by like 2 minutes so we headed off in the other direction and kept a better track of time! We stopped and took some photos, saw the Vancouver Lookout at the Harbour Center (where we've decided we will go on a nice clear day --- I discovered we have a coupon for it in our Entertainment Values book), wandered up and down some streets and then needed a washroom, but because very little was open we couldn't find one so we headed back to the SeaBus terminal. We had a good laugh when we discovered that there were washrooms inside the SeaBus waiting area (not any washrooms upstairs though just outside the Skytrain/SeaBus areas!)

We got on the SeaBus and went across the harbour to North Vancouver and the Lonsdale Quay. We were both hungry by this time, so we wandered the stores outside but didn't find anything appealling, so we stopped and took some photos looking from the Quay towards Vancouver. I even managed to get a photo with the SeaBus in the background!

We then headed inside the Market at the Quay and checked out all the wonderful stalls inside. I love Markets like this! Lots of fresh produce, seafood, meats, cheeses and lots of choices of prepared food as well. We grabbed some some lunch and took it to go as we realized that it was minutes till the next SeaBus. Once we got back to Vancouver, we took our lunch and headed back to this neat little covered plaze we had found just up from the terminal.

We ate lunch and then it was time for some more fun shots!

 

Even though we were FREEZING COLD! we still had a lot of fun (as you can tell by that gorgeous smile & laugh on Ronel's face!) Using my Nikon DSLR it is hard to take a photo of the two of us by myself, so we decided to use these large and very shine poles that were in the plaza area. 

After we had finished lunch, we headed off towards Canada Place. We wandered through the connecting mall/food court (and realized it would have been easier & warmer to have gotten lunch there -- lesson learned!) Wandered around the outside of Canada Place, took some more photos (yes, I enjoy taking photos and Ronel is a willing subject!!... well most of the time! )

We then decided that it was time to head towards home (we wanted to be back for our Good Friday service) and we headed towards the SkyTrain. We decided to take the scenic route home and switched trains at Commercial Station so that we could ride the Millennium Line home (this has been around for awhile but it was also a first time for me on these section of the SkyTrain route) We then switched back at Columbia Station so that we could take the Expo Line back into Surrey.

This is Ronel sitting at the front of the train at Waterfront Station, waiting to head home

Saturday, we headed out for more adventure.... this time to Bear Creek Park. It was much warmer on Saturday and so we were able to enjoy the outdoors more.

Bear Creek Park has a lovely garden area and we wandered around, saw an East Indian wedding party in all their traditional outfits. We strolled through the paths, stopped at one of the bridges over a small pond to see the ducks, saw some squirrels and enjoyed all the beautiful flowers that are already out in bloom.

I also got to play around with my camera using this gorgeous tree full of  blossoms.

Ronel gave the weekend TWO THUMBS UP!!and we're not finished yet! It is not even 8am yet and we have a whole day ahead of us! Ronel doesn't have English class tonight because it's Easter Monday so we're going to enjoy our day together!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and that you remember why we celebrate this holiday!

HE IS RISEN!!!

settling in

well, it has now been a full month that we've been living in our new home. We are almost completely settled in, my craft area still needs some work and we're still working on some storage solutions, but we're starting to feel at home in our home.  Because the house is really new (like 2 months brand new) there is some settling happening and so yesterday our landlord had a drywaller in to fix some of the cracks that are starting to show in the walls. So now we have white spotted walls and are waiting for the painter to come.

Now that the sun has started to shine more around here, Ronel & I are looking forward to getting out and exploring more of the greater Vancouver area. Sometime this spring/summer we're planning on trips to the Aquarium, Zoo, Science World, Stanley Park,  and somewhere in there we'll plan a trip to Vancouver Island to visit my dad's side of the family.


for those of you who still check in on this blog.... thanks and I'll try to post more often. 

special Sunday

Today was a great day as Ronel & I got the privilege of meeting our newest nephew today! My youngest sister & her husband welcomed their first child into this world this morning..... Ethan David Timothy was born this morning at 5:40am weighing 8lbs even. We headed over to the hospital after church and spent a couple hours cuddling the newest family member. 

Here are his gorgeous little toes!! (I'll ask my sister if I can share a photo of the rest of him soon!)

moving....

sorry the blog has been so quiet..... we've been packing & preparing to move. At the end of January we found out that we needed to be out of our current suite by Feb 28th. Our landlady is moving her family to California to be with her husband and is renting out the entire house. So, we spent the beginning of February looking at suites and we finally found one that would work for us, was still close to work, still in our price range and is actually brand new! The house was just finished in the middle of January and the owners just moved in at the beginning of February.

We then needed to start packing and also try to get rid of some items that won't fit in the new place.

I've had to work through some things, but I am finally looking forward to our new place. There are some definite perks - all new appliances (we've had issues with the stove here and the fridge is quite small), more cupboard space, nice new paint job, carpeted living room, but it is only one bedroom (which is larger than our current one) and the kitchen/living area is slightly smaller/different layout.

I've learned how to navigate Craigslist as we searched for a smaller kitchen table & chairs, plus listed some items we no longer need.

another way to help Haiti

<a href="http://aaronhale.bandcamp.com/track/got-a-lot-to-give">GOT A LOT TO GIVE by Aaron Hale</a>

This songwriter & singer has offered his newest single for download (set your own price) ALL proceeds go to help REAL HOPE FOR HAITI.
Check out Licia's blog here - RHFH Rescue Center

Check out this organization and see what this amazing family does! And download this song today! I just did, now it's your turn!

and check out more from this artist here Aaron Hale

10 by 10

IT’S 2010 — THE START OF A NEW DECADE, AND A TIME FOR CHANGE.

When you join the 10 by 10 challenge, you are joining a community of we thinkers around the world who are working to create a better global future. Take action on your commitments throughout the year, and watch as together we build a better world, 10 actions by 10 actions.

Now, thanks to the generous support of Aviva, your commitments will have an even greater impact. When you share your commitments on this website, Aviva will donate $10 on your behalf to a Free The Children community overseas. That means your actions will create change both here at home, and around the world. Simply by sharing your actions, we will be raising money $10 by $10 that will create great difference in the lives of tens of thousands of people. And, what started with you, will end up with we.

It’s as simple as that!

what are YOU waiting for??

Here are my 10 by 10 commitments to change for 2010

1. Turn off the lights
2. Drink water from a re-useable water bottle
3. Give a donation on someone’s behalf
4. Hug, hug, hug
5. Say thank you – in writing
6. Re-connect with an old friend
7. Hold the door
8. Look for local produce
9. Unplug appliances
10. Carry a re-useable bag

update

We still have not heard from any of Ronel's family or friends. I did hear back from the mission where I used to work and they are fine, there is some minor damage to the buildings there -- cracks in the walls and such that need to be repaired and they have a workteam with them right now who were going to be building an addition to one of the homes and are now focusing on repairs instead.

We are praying that Ronel's family in that same area are okay and have minimal damage to their homes as well. We are concerned about Ronel's siblings in Port-au-Prince and his father's family who live right near the epicenter.

We spent today praying and trying to get through to someone in Haiti, but so far we have not being able to get through on the phones. I did have a missionary friend say that her cell was back working but I think that the system is too overloaded for us to get through.

please keep praying.....

video on quake damage

Here's a video I found on the damage in Port-au-Prince.

This is just mind-boggling! I am so thankful that Ronel is here with me and not there but we continue to pray for all of those who are there in Haiti.

Earthquake in Haiti

This afternoon, just before 5pm EST, there was a major earthquake just off the coast of Haiti. From what I can find online it was a 7.3 earthquake with 2 major aftershocks of 5.8.

I have been able to find out that friends of mine that live in Haiti are okay, but we have not been able to reach any of Ronel's family and so are praying that everyone is okay. Most of Ronel's family is more in the middle of Haiti in the Artibonite Valley so hopefully they didn't get much of the effects of the quake. I have put in an email to the mission where I & Ronel both used to work to check on how they are and have asked if they could have someone check on Ronel's mom. Hopefully we will hear more news soon, in the meantime, please keep all the people of Haiti in your prayers!

Happy 2010 to you...

Ronel & I had a wonderful Christmas - we spent the morning with my "other" family (friends who have become like family) and then went to my brother's house for Christmas with my family. This year my grandma and cousin joined us (they both live out of town) so it was kind of nice to have them with us. It was so nice to be able to share that all with Ronel -- it was his first "Canadian" Christmas and I think it went well. Boxing Day we were up early and out of the house for some Boxing Day sales! We went to Talize (a thrift store in town) and they had 50% off everything used (they do sell some new items)and we scored. They have some great clothes and we found some items that still had the original tags on them, but they were in with the used items! Ronel & I both got quite a few items of clothing and some of them we paid barely anything for! Most of Ronel's clothes were all well known name brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, etc. We got him some really nice dress shirts and more pants. I got some skirts, and more "nice tops" - ones that I can wear with jeans and look nice or dress up with a skirt or dress pants. We spent almost all day at Talize - finding items took us about an hour then we spent most of our day trying on the items... they have a 5 item limit and were strictly enforcing it -- you could try on more but you had to get back in line. We didn't have a problem with it cause everyone had to do it. When we were finished we headed home to clean up and then headed over for our second turkey dinner!!! Our friends where we spent Christmas morning have their Christmas meal on Boxing Day so that Christmas day is one of relaxing... I actually quite enjoy it and it means I get two Turkey dinners each year!

Our vacation time (both of us didn't work Christmas Eve until today) was one spent together, enjoying each other's company, watching movies, relaxing and just being together. New Year's Eve we had plans to spend it with friends, but mid day Ronel asked if we could just stay home and so we did. We watched movies and just hung out. It was actually quite enjoyable and we even made it past midnight! (actually we made it quite a bit past midnight as we started a 2nd movie at 11:30 or so~ )

We are both looking forward to what 2010 has in store for us, and as I told one of Ronel's cousins - this year already looks better than last year because Ronel is here with me!

We wish you all a wonderful year filled with God's richest blessings for your life!